Some of my regular readers will know I am not a fan of football, especially that played by so-called ‘professional’ players, in the Football League, mostly in the higher divisions.

The fact that these men are paid mind boggling salaries to play is bad enough but when the administrators in the form of managers and coaches order a player to carry on with a game after being knocked unconscious is unpardonable. That Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas told goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to play on is bad enough, but what gave him the right to determine that he ‘looked alright’ to play? Has Villas-Boas got x-ray vision, or a mobile scanner in his inside pocket, or is he indeed a doctor? No I don’t think so, so why did overrule better judgement and insist on Lloris carrying on? This just smacks of the attitude of pressonitis, endemic in many areas of life these days. I can’t believe that football is that important, or maybe as the often quoted ‘football is more important than life’ (sic) by Liverpool manager Bill Shankly; it is. What’s more why do people spend good money (I think £90 for 90 minutes of football is a bit much) to see illegal tackling, shirt pulling, dirty tackling, fighting, play acting when tackled all in the name of seeing their team win? Don’t ask me, I haven’t been tons football match since 1974, and I totally lost interest after that. With Hillsborough in the news recently, maybe the hooligan element at grounds has reduced, but I don’t know whether it still goes on. Anyway enough of that, the game will never change, as long as fools and their money are parted.

The weather wont settle down will it? Raging storms and torrential rain one minute, autumnal sunshine and calm days the next. So it’s been ideal leaf sweeping time. They seem interminable in our garden. Having just bought a new leaf vac from B&Q, I was keen to try it out, hoping that it was better than the last one I had a few years ago, Black and Decker, total rubbish, kept clogging up. The new one is a B&Q special and it works great, although it is quite heavy, but at only £39 it was what could be termed a William Bargain (that’s billy bargain Bloggs). Still it made collecting and mulching all those leaves a lot easier. Trouble is tomorrow the next lot will have fallen down, so it’ll be back to square one. Oh well, with a sweep sweep here, and rake rake there, here a sweep, there a rake; well you get the picture.

So the Christmas TV advertising has started in earnest. Mind, its been going on subtly for most of October, but as soon as November arrives its open season for advertisers. I wonder if all that coverage actually makes any difference, it certainly doesn’t in our house. Christmas shouldn’t be about the most expensive presents that can be given, its all got out if hand, again. The range and price of some of the things that are being advertised is mind boggling, it beggars belief that parents/grandparents are willing/coerced into spending £100s on unnecessary presents for their little darlings. And I do mean totally unnecessary, no kid needs some of the stuff being touted; send a donation to a deserving charity instead. No, I’m not being Scrooge like, or Mr Grumpy. The worse thing is advertising Christmas clubs for 2014! What on earth would anyone want to plan or save for 12 months in advance? Roll on January 2nd.

clivehandy.com

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About cliverh

Retired aerospace engineer, first with the Royal Air Force and then BAE Systems. Now enjoying a variety of activities and not getting bored. I was a Games Maker Volunteer at the London 2012 Olympics and a volunteer at the Rugby World Cup 2015 in England. I intend to blog about what interests me.